Gulf Coast State College

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OVERVIEW:

Like many schools, Gulf Coast State College of Panama City, FL, wanted to build awareness of the programs it offered and increase enrollment. Recognizing that consumers are true multi-screen multitaskers, the college partnered with Comcast Spotlight to move from advertising solely on television to creating a powerful mix of geographically targeted TV and digital marketing.

STRATEGY:

Gulf Coast's primary target audience was aged 16-27, but with older adults also taking classes to sharpen skills and advance their careers, a secondary target was adults aged 25-54. The college had plenty of data about how to reach them: by conducting annual surveys to gauge marketing effectiveness, the school knew which networks were most-watched by students. That included ABC Family, AMC, A&E, BET, Bravo, CNN, Comedy Central, E!, ESPN, Food Network, FX, FOX News, HGTV, History, Lifetime, MSNBC, MTV, Syfy, TBS and TNT. The campaign was rounded out with Xfinity.com and FOXNews.com, including static and in-banner video advertising as well as pre-roll video advertising.

SUCCESS:

Gulf Coast State College experienced a 29.57% yearover-year increase in enrollments, and an increase in students registering early for the fall semester. Within a three-month span, the college received more than 200 click-throughs from the Comcast Spotlight advertising campaign, representing a .09% clickthrough rate, triple the national average.